


Like Children

by obviouslyelementary



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Angst, Characters Turn Into Children, Child!Garak, Child!Jadzia, Child!Julian, Child!Kira, Child!Quark, Child/Goo!Odo, Children, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Goo!Odo, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Space babble, nothing too big but I feel like its right to tag it for future reference, star trek plot, technical babble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25920913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: When Benjamin Sisko and Chief O'Brien leave the station to work through some Federation issues, something (or someone) seems to attack the station, bringing all personal inside back to their childhood.(Or Ben and Miles are forced to take care of five different species of children and a bunch of goo.)
Relationships: Elim Garak & Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax & Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax & Kira Nerys, Julian Bashir & Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Kira Nerys & Benjamin Sisko, Miles O'Brien & Benjamin Sisko, Odo & Benjamin Sisko, Odo & Quark (Star Trek), Quark & Benjamin Sisko
Comments: 54
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been sitting in my head for a while. Hope you guys like it!

Finally, finally they were going back to the station. Sisko rarely left it nowadays, much more worried about the internal problems every rising sun brought, usually allowing his officers to check any situation off station by themselves, but this time he was requested. The Federation was supposed to have a dinner with a new delegation that wished to join their union, and he was invited together with an officer of his choice to go and greet this new people. He asked chief O'Brien because he had to choose someone from the Federation and from Star Fleet, two things the Bajorans were not, and unfortunately Dax had work to do with some trills that had arrived the station.

He could have picked Julian but for some reason, he felt like the young doctor would not be a wise choice.

But now they negotiations were done (lasting longer than StarFleet had promised, but less than Sisko was prepared for), and now they were both happy to go home. He missed Jake, Miles missed Keiko and Molly, and they hoped the station was somewhat able to hold it together while they were gone.

Unfortunately, they would soon find out it was not the case.

\----------------------

Jadzia groaned as another shock wave made the whole station tremble, holding herself down on the panels as she checked the final ships leaving their docs. She slapped the com on her chest harshly, holding herself for another wave.

"Third wave incoming! Julian, is everyone evacuated?!" she cried out, closing her eyes as another system seemed to fail above her, causing sparks to shower on her surroundings. The doctor took a moment to respond, but eventually she heard his rushed voice in the middle of confusing voices.

"Yes! The last ship is leaving... now! They are all evacuated, now it's only us left!" he called out, and she groaned as the station shook again, Kira next to her desperately trying to stabilize the whole complex.

"All officers report to docking bay A! Immediately!" Kira yelled through the station's communicators instead of the ones they had individually, afraid of having someone left, before she nodded to Jadzia and both made their way to the lift. Making their way through the passages, holding themselves against the walls as they ran, another wave hit the station making them lose their balance, Dax being quick enough to hold Kira up and continue their way down the hall.

At the same time, Odo and Julian ran through the hallways towards the same end, hoping to get to the Rio Grand before they were destroyed. The station shook and trembled with every new wave, none of them able to identify what was happening before it was too late, and now only being able to evacuate before it was all destroyed.

They reached the bay before the girls, but someone was already waiting them there, two people they did not expect to find.

"Quark?!"

"Garak?!"

The two men turned to face their, well, friends, both sporting their usual mischievous smirks that almost made them look like brothers of a lost mother. Odo and Julian rushed closer, opening the door to the shuttle while the two waited patiently.

"There were no seats at the last ship and I had to gather my fabrics" Garak said, with his usual tranquility, while Quark chuckled to himself.

"You know how I am. I couldn’t leave without my latinum" he added, and both Odo and Julian felt livid at their lack of self care, but they wouldn't discuss it at the time. Before they opened the doors, Jadzia and Kira rushed through the opposite doors of the bay, and looked at the two civilians in front of them.

"No time to explain get i-AH!" Julian fell down with another shock wave, one that sent all the people in the room to the ground. The station shook more than ever, seeming as if it was about to break apart, before a bright light blinded all of them, and the shock waves stopped.

Silence took over the station.

\--------------------------

"Five minutes to the station sir" Miles said next to him, while Ben enjoyed a nice warm cup of coffee. He looked at his chief of operations and smiled.

"Good. Hail the station" he said, and Miles did, but there was no answer.

"They are not answering sir" he said, now suddenly worried, and Ben straightened up, putting his coffee away.

"Try again."

"... no answer sir."

"What the hell is going on..." Ben whispered, sending a subspace message to Dax and Kira, hoping they would answer immediately. When they didn't, he looked at Miles. "When was our last contact with them?"

"Yesterday sir, before the meeting" Miles responded, checking on the memory banks and the links to the station. "It all appears normal... they are not damaged in any way, they are receiving our hails. They just aren't responding."

"Are you sure there is nothing wrong?" Sisko insisted, using his own codes to access the runabout's archives and try to contact the station through secure links. No response. Miles shook his head as a negative.

"nothing I can see from here sir... wait... I've received a message through subspace... it is a warning to abandon the station" he said, looking over at Ben with clear worry on his face. "They evacuated sir, it says some shock wave was hitting the station, about to collapse."

"Scan for any life signs the moment we get close enough" he said, and Miles nodded before they got out of warp. They headed for the station on full impulse, and once there, O'Brien checked for life forms in the station.

"There are five known life form signals sir, and one that I have never seen before... one human, one trill, one cardassian, one bajoran, one ferengi..."

"And one shapeshifter" Ben finished, looking at the chief with a frown. "Can we dock?"

"No sir, they have all bays closed."

"Fine. Let's beam over to the station and check, I want to make sure our officers are fine. In case it is some kind of alien invasion, we should be the ones to check. If not... we will ask them what happened and bring all the civilians and officers back" he said, and both him and Miles got ready to beam out. "Computer, engage."

In a few seconds, they were being transported into the station.

It was truly a mess inside. They beamed into ops, as they usually would, and looked around for any signs of their officers. There were pieces of walls and panels all over, with some fuses burnt and panels offline. Something had clearly hit the station, although there was no way of knowing what without checking the logs, and apparently no damage had been made to the station itself. O'Brien rushed to the first pair of panels online he found, checking for the life forms and finding in fact all of them around bay A, not moving. Sisko checked the rest of the room for any signs or clues to what had attacked the station, but clearly it seemed to be gone or never entered in the first place. He returned to the chief after that, and they both took the lift down towards the bays.

All hallways were slightly damaged by what seemed to be quite a shock wave, however it did not seem to affect the computer or any of the equipment. They followed their tricorders for forms of life, knowing they would be in that general area, finally reaching dock A and stopping in front of the door.

O'Brien opened it, both of them with phasers in hand just in case, but once inside they found nothing else other than four children asleep on the floor, and a bunch of amber liquid on a small valley next to the shuttle. They put their phases away and walked closer, narrowing their eyes at the sight.

"Sir..." Miles whispered, but Sisko raised his hand and checked with the tricorder.

Yes. He was staring at his officers, but now, looking like children.


	2. Chapter 2

Since they were all asleep, his first worry was with the puddle of goo on the ground. Ben walked to the replicator, asking for a vase, and gently laid it down next to what he assumed was Odo, gently pushing the formless goo towards the entrance. Slowly, but surely, it moved and made its way inside the vase, and Sisko placed it away but somewhere safe where he could check later. While he did, Miles took a reading of all the children, making sure they weren't hurt.

That was when something occurred to Sisko.

"Chief. Didn't you say you read five humanoid life forms?" he asked, and O'Brien turned to look at him, furrowing his eyebrows as he realized what his commander meant.

"Yes sir. I'm sure I did."

Sisko looked down at the children, a human, a trill, a bajoran, and a cardassian, and raised his eyebrow back at the chief.

"Then where is our ferengi?"

Before they could worry too much about the fifth child, the others began to move, showing signs they were about to wake up. Ben nodded to Miles, and they both stood up, getting ready to deal with the situation and hoping that despite their young ages, they would remember what had happened. IT had been reported before, so there was no reason to lose hope.

The first one to awake was Jadzia, her eyes blinking slowly as she pulled herself up, brushing them off and looking around. She couldn't be older than ten, which was strange since Sisko had never met such a young trill, but those were not normal circumstances. He offered her a hand when she finally opened her eyes, and smiled at her to give her some comfort.

"Hello."

Jadzia looked at him, confused and clearly still stunned, before she reached for his hand and stood up, brushing her hair back and fixing her clothes. Weirdly enough she was still wearing her star fleet uniform, but now it was small and fit her 10 year old body.

"Hi" she said, her voice soft and childish. "Who are you?"

Ben tried not to look surprised.

That was a problem.

"My name is Benjamin Sisko, and this is my officer Miles O'Brien" he said, nodding to the man, who gave her a small nod. "You do not remember us?"

"Should I?" she whispered, rubbing her eyes and yawning before looking around. "Where am I? I've never been here before."

"This is station Deep Space Nine" O'Brien answered, and she looked at him with a nod. "It is in Bajoran space."

"Bajoran... I have read about Bajor before" she whispered, looking down at the other children and seeming even more confused. "Why are all of them asleep on the floor?"

"You were asleep on the floor too. We are... trying to understand what happened to you all. For now all you need to know is that you are safe. Okay?"

"Okay" she said, and then looked at them again. "My name is Jadzia, by the way. Since you didn't ask."

"Jadzia. Nice to meet you" Ben said, and she smiled before stepping away when she heard a groan. Standing next to Sisko, she watched as Kira opened her eyes and sat up, looking at the adults in front of her confused.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is this?" she asked, and Ben kneeled down in front of her with a smile.

"Don't worry. We are your friends, you are somewhere safe. My name is Benjamin Sisko" he said, and she blinked slowly before standing up and moving away from him.

"I don't know you. For all I know you could be with... ah!" she squealed, running behind the runabout's cabin without notice. Ben frowned and then looked towards where she was, noticing Garak's eyes opening. "Cardassian!"

"What?" Garak mumbled, rubbing his head. He looked slightly older than his officers, like he was Jake's age, which honestly made Sisko a bit relieved. "Where am I..."

"You are a cardassian! You are helping cardassians!" Kira yelled, and Ben nodded to Miles to go and calm her down, but her yell woke up Julian, who seemed to be the youngest of the bunch, around eight probably. He jumped awake, scared, while Miles kneeled down in front of Kira.

"Hey young lady, calm down" he said, but she frowned at his words.

"I'm not a young lady, I'm Kira Nerys!" she yelled and ran away towards the back of the runabout. When Miles looked at him, Sisko shook his head and walked towards the little girl.

"Kira, hey" he said, kneeling down, and she moved away from him. "We are not with the cardassians. We are not going to hurt you."

"Then why do you have a cardassian on board? Why was I brought here?! Where am I?!" she cried out, clearly scared and confused, and making Sisko feel bad for cornering her up.

"he is a child like you are, Kira. He isn’t here to hurt you. We are all here because of unfortunate events, and we need you to stay calm. Please?" he asked, and she looked at him, a little less scared but definitely suspicious.

"Where are we?" she whispered, and he smiled.

"Deep Space Nine. A space station" he said, and stood up. "Why don't we all go down to the Promanade to eat something? I am starving, aren't you chief?"

Luckily, they were both parents, and they knew how to deal with some situations.

"Yes sir of course. Who wants some good plate of vegetable soup?" Miles asked, nodding to the children, and Jadzia was the first to follow, next to Julian and then Garak. Once they were gone, Ben looked at Kira and offered her his hand.

"Want something to eat?" he asked and she looked at him suspiciously before taking his hand.

"Okay" she whispered, and he took her to the door where the others were leaving, not forgetting to get Odo on the way, holding his vase close to himself.

"Any idea what may have caused this, chief?" he asked quietly as they watched the children eat. Kira refused to eat with Garak for obvious reasons, which made the little group separate in boys and girls tables. Jadzia and Kira sat by O'Brien while Garak and Julian sat by Sisko, the four of them eating silently, clearly tired from whatever had happened before they arrived.

"No idea commander. Although I'm guessing something like this could only be caused by a temporal distortion and none has happened in this area since my first day in the station..." he said, and Sisko hummed.

"Besides, if it was a time distortion, they would have all aged the same, and clearly they haven't. Each one of them aged down a random number, no pattern" he said, and O'Brien nodded to himself.

"Also we have the other two problems. Odo, and Quark, I'm assuming" he whispered, looking inside the vase towards the silent goo. Ben nodded, watching the vase as well.

"Finding Quark in this place will only be possible with a tricorder. We should wait until the children are asleep to take our attention away from them" he said, looking at the children again and smiling. "This is so surreal... They are all... kids."

"I am not as amused as you are sir. I don't understand why you are smiling" Miles whispered, grumpily, making Sisko chuckle.

"Honestly chief I'm trying not to go crazy."

"S-sir?" he heard a soft voice on his left, and turned to see Julian standing in front of him, his eyes wide and shiny.

"Yes?" Ben asked, turning to face the small boy. He swallowed thick, clearly scared.

"C-can you show me the loo?" he whispered, and Ben smiled before standing up and offering him his hand. Julian relaxed and held his hand, walking with Sisko towards the bathroom.

"Watch the other chief" he said, and Miles sighed, shaking his head and checking on the other kids. Kira was still sending death glances to Garak, who didn't seem to look up from his food at any moment. Jadzia was just playing with hers, mashing the potatoes with her fork and then licking the carrot instead of chewing it.

Great. Children.


	3. Chapter 3

The children finished their food without any other incident, and the tension between them began to cool down as they started to become sleepy. Jadzia was the first, yawning loudly and stretching out, and Ben wondered for a second if it had to do with the symbiont he guessed was still inside her. Hopefully it also had retracted into its juvenile self, but there was no way of knowing, so she could be a child dealing with memories of many hosts, which surely wouldn't be good for any child's mental health.

The next to show signs of tiredness was Julian, followed soon after by Kira. Garak didn't seem to show signs of anything, but Benjamin couldn't say he was surprised. The little he knew about cardassian childhood was that it surely was not easy, so perhaps he was still holding onto his training.

"Alright, time to go to sleep" Ben said, while Miles gathered their plates and put them back to be reenergized. He stood up, and the kids did the same silently, walking closer to him like little sheep looking for a hoarder. "I will separate you into quarters but I don't feel it would be good to leave you alone. So, I will put the girls in a room and the boys in other. Okay?"

"Okay" the children said, softly. Ben nodded and looked at O'Brien as he came close.

"Chief, since you have a little girl, you will be responsible for Kira and Jadzia" he said, and Miles nodded. "I will be responsible for the boys. Now follow me, we will take you to your new quarters for the night."

He took Odo's vase and walked to the lift, waiting for the kids to gather up. Kira remained as far away from Garak as possible, and Ben held back a sigh, wondering how difficult this would actually be. They reached the habitational ring and looked at O'Brien, who nodded.

"Girls, come with me" he said, and took Jadzia and Kira's hands, and they followed easily, while Julian waved next to Sisko to them. The girls waved back and followed the chief to his quarters, while Ben looked at the boys.

"Follow me" he said, and before he could, Julian grabbed his hand firmly. He offered his free hand to Garak, despite having to hold Odo's vase between his arm and chest if he were to hold his hand, but the cardassian didn't even spare him a glance. He took it as it was and walked away, checking to see if he was following, and once he knew he was, he took them to his own quarters.

Upon arrival, he placed Odo safely over the desk next to the entrance and looked at the two boys in front of him, smiling slightly. Maybe he was too fond of them already, curse his fatherly heart.

"Alright. I'll replicate you two some pajamas and you can go and sleep inside my bedroom. Is that good?" he asked, and Julian was quick to nod. Once again, Garak did not move.

"Can you replicate my dragon pajamas?" Julian asked, walking next to Sisko. He chuckled and stood in front of the replicator.

"It won't be the same, but I can replicate pajamas with dragon patterns if you'd like."

"I would please sir! And make it blue!" he said, and Ben nodded before making the request to the computer. It replicated the pajamas, blue with patterned dragons, and he handed it to Julian, smiling at the boy's grin. "Thank you!" he squealed, running to the bedroom to change.

Ben then turned to Garak, the cardassian teen not looking up from the floor.

"Garak? Any specific patterns in your sleeping garments?" he asked, and he did not move. Well, this was going to be difficult. "Garak?"

"How do you know my name?" he asked, his voice way too young and strange to Sisko's ears. The Garak he knew, adult and old and exiled, was always a charmed with an easy way of speaking, with lies that spilled out like a song to a famous singer. This Garak, however, had none of those qualities yet.

"You told me" he said, although he wasn't sure if he had. By the way Garak lifted his head and stared right into his eyes, he knew he hadn't.

"I did not" he said, firm and cold, taking one step closer to Ben without any fear or hesitation. "I did not tell you my name at any moment, sir. I demand to know where I am, and what I am doing here."

"You are at Deep Space Nine. And for what you are doing here, I'm afraid I don't have that information" he said, and Garak did not seem any more pleased. In fact, he looked even angrier.

"I demand to be taken back to Cardassia Prime this instant" he said, and Ben held back a sigh. Oh boy, this was not going to be any good.

"I cannot take you back to Cardassia, Garak, I'm sorry" he responded. How was he going to convince this boy to stay? He knew absolutely nothing about Garak, not about his adult life and most certainly about his childhood. He knew about Kira and Dax and even Julian, slightly, but Garak? He did not even know the man's last name.

"So this is a test of some kind. I see" he said, and looked at Benjamin with new determination. "You can assure Tain that I am ready for whatever he has planned."

Tain? Test? Ben sighed to himself and shook his head.

"This is not a test" he said, but what would that be of any good? Garak would never believe him. And indeed he didn't, his eyes simply narrowing.

"I see."

Luckily, Ben didn't have to try and convince Garak of anything again, because Julian came running back out of the bedroom in his new pajamas, and made his way to Sisko, stopping in front of him.

"Sir! I need something else!"

"What is it?" he asked, looking down at the boy, a wave of relief coming over him. He could deal with eight year old human boys.

"I need Kukalaka!" he said, loudly, and Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"You need... what?" he asked, and Julian fixed his pajamas like a good little officer. He was adorable.

"Kukalaka! My bear!" he said, and Ben nodded slowly. A stuffed animal, of course. "I can't sleep without him!"

"I don't think my computer can replicate your bear, Julian" he said, softly, and then the boy's eyebrows furrowed.

"What did you call me?" he asked, and Ben was not expecting that.

"Um... Julian? Your name?"

"My name is Jules."

That... was new. Benjamin shook his head before nodding, knowing he would not be able to remember that for the life of him. Jules? Sounded like a nickname, but a child would not have corrected him unless he was actually wrong.

"Sorry Jules. I don't think I can replicate Kukalaka to you."

"Could you... replicate a stuffed brown bear with like, very light brown ears and feet?" he asked, hopefully, and Ben nodded before redirecting the request to the computer. It delivered a dark brown stuffed bear with light brown ears and feet, and he handed it to Julian (now Jules apparently), watching the boy's frown before he sighed. "I guess it will do. Can I sleep?"

"Of course. Go to bed" he said, and the boy nodded, walking back to the bedroom with his new stuffed toy. Garak watched him with a blank stare before returning his attention to Ben.

"I supposed I should also sleep. Could you replicate me a robe?" he asked, politely, and Ben nodded, replicating a robe to the boy and handing it to him. The cardassian checked it before heading to the bedroom. Before he could enter, Benjamin cleaned his throat. "Yes?"

"Relax. We are not here to hurt you."

Garak looked at him, up and down, before nodding and making his way inside. For a moment Benjamin considered that maybe leaving Julian alone with Garak wasn't the best idea, but then again, what else could he do? He had to find Quark, or whatever child ferengi was around the station, and he couldn't not sleep to make sure Julian would be okay.

He would just have to trust Garak, for once.

"Alright, do either of you need anything else?" Miles asked after he had replicated pajamas for the girls and made sure they were safe and sound on his bed. Jadzia and Kira were both tucked in, blankets up to their faces, looking both sleepy and excited at the same time.

"This is the softest mattress I've ever slept in" Kira mumbled, poking it and yawning loudly, before turning to face Miles while pushing her head into the pillow. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Are you comfortable Jadzia?" he asked, and the little trill girl smiled and nodded, hugging the covers closer to herself.

"Could you tell me a story? A human story?" she asked, and Kira perked up. He chuckled, knowing how much Molly liked his stories, and nodded.

"Of course" he reached for a padd and looked around, finding a story about a princess that saved herself from an evil dragon. Suitable for those two little warriors he had on the bed. He began the story, doing the voices and the sounds as he did with Molly, and watched as the trill and the bajoran began to fall asleep, closing their eyes and drifting off into dream land way before he finished it. With a new found fondness for the two, he turned off the lights and walked out of the room, closing the door before making his way to the hallway with the tricorder in hand.

"Chief" he heard, turning to see Sisko coming towards him. "How are the girls?"

"Tucked in and asleep. The boys?" he asked, and Benjamin sighed.

"Odo is still liquid, Julian is probably asleep, but I'm worried about Garak. He thinks this is some kind of test, I don't know what I'm going to do with him yet" he said and Miles nodded.

"Cardassian children are trained for battle since they are born. He is a teenager, he must have gone through some processing. Hopefully he won't cause any trouble, but I think it would be the best if we kept feeding to his idea that this is a test. I can't imagine what he would do if he found out where he really is" he said, shaking his head, but Ben furrowed his eyebrows.

"He won't do anything, he is a child."

"You don't know what cardassian children are capable of, sir" O'Brien said. His hatred for cardassians was as clear as a glass window, which didn't make Sisko feel very at ease at all. But before he could say anything, he remembered what they were really doing there.

"let's find our last lost child" he said, and Miles nodded, both of them heading to dock bay A to begin their search, since that was the place they first saw their signs.


	4. Chapter 4

It was going to be easier than they previously thought, finding the missing ferengi. The moment O'Brien turned on the tricorder inside dock bay A, he captured faint organic signals that would only match ferengi sweat. He traced it down to a tube entrance, one that was opened and somehow they hadn't noticed the first time they were there. Sisko agreed on staying behind because there was no immediate danger, and Miles squeezed through it, making his way through the tubes and following the traces of ferengi sweat around the floor.

It took him several twists and turns, often telling Sisko where to go next to meet him, before he finally caught some signs of a ferengi close to his location. He followed deeper into the tubes, the tricorder guiding his direction, until he found a connection room, stepping out and hearing soft snoring sounds. He looked through the two other tube entrances and got inside the one that headed to the Promanade, finding their little scape not many meters away.

"Found him sir" he told the com, and crawled closer. The ferengi child was asleep curled up on himself, snoring and whistling. He sighed, not knowing what to do exactly. "Should I wake him?"

_"Can you bring him out without doing so chief?"_

"Very unlikely, these passages are too small, I can't carry him out" O'Brien responded, before gently touching the ferengi's ankle. "Hey. Kid. Wake up."

The boy grumbled and groaned as he woke, snoring stopping and giving place to sniffling, before his eyes opened and he turned, letting out a scream and trying to stand up upon seeing Miles. He tried to stop him, but he hit his head on the small ceiling with a force that would not be pleasant to anyone, specially a ferengi.

It only made the boy whine louder.

 _"Chief what's going on?"_ Sisko asked, probably able to hear the loud shrieking, while Miles just sighed.

"He hit his head" he replied, before taking the boy's hand. "Hey, kid, look at me. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

When the boy looked at him again, his eyes were teary and his free hand was rubbing the place he had hit. Apparently O'Brien gave him some sort of confidence, because the boy sniffled and moved closer, and Miles was able to guide him out of the tubes to where Sisko was.

Once outside, the boy tried running again, but Ben held his arm and pulled him back, making him hiss and whine in pain as his head was forming a large bump.

"Calm down. We are not going to hurt you. My name is Benjamin Sisko" he said, or tried. From what he knew about Jake and Nog's friendship, ferengi children were just as distrustful as their adult counterparts. He had to be firm. "Let us take you down to the infirmary and check your head. Can we do that?"

The boy looked at him scared and clearly unable to find a way out, and tried to run again, but Sisko kept his hold firm on his arm. He whimpered and then joined his hands together by the wrists, in a way he had seen Quark do a few times.

"Please don't hurt me, I don't have anything, my family doesn't have anything, I'm just a weak ferengi I didn't mean to end up here, I'm not going to steal anything please!" the boy cried, whimpered, his eyes truly shedding some tears from fear and the pain on his head.

Ben honestly felt sorry for him, and by the way O'Brien was looking, he did too.

"We won't hurt you. We are taking you down to the medical station to heal your head, okay?" Ben asked, letting go of him and looking down. The boy looked back at him, sniffling and rubbing his eyes. "Come with me. I promise no one will do you any harm."

He offered his hand to the kid, who slowly took it and allowed himself to be taken away from that hallway. Miles followed behind to make sure he wouldn’t run, but in the end, he didn't, simply walking with Ben and Miles to the infirmary and sitting down while they ran over some scans and fixed his bump. As the pain subsided, he seemed to grow less scary and more curious, touching and looking at things around the infirmary.

"I have never seen anything like this before" he whispered, looking around, and ben smiled at him.

"Haven't you?"

"No. Ferenginar's hospitals are bigger and... less bright" he said, looking at Ben again with now wide, bright, curious eyes. "Where are we?"

"Station Deep Space Nine" Ben said, and he frowned in confusion. "What's your name?"

"Quark" he responded, and Ben felt at ease. At least it was someone he was used with. "What am I doing here?"

"That is what we are trying to find out. There are other five kids here with us" Ben said, unsure why he would be telling that to child Quark. But then again he was losing it a bit. "You were the only one that escaped us."

"I must be the smartest one then" he grinned, and Miles chuckled softly to himself. "What are you laughing? I'm smart!"

"I'm sure you are"Ben agreed, to make the boy happy.

"All done sir" O'Brien said, and put the medical equipment away, while Quark reached up and touched his head. He seemed satisfied, smiling to himself.

"Quark, would you accompany me to my quarters? The other boys are sleeping over there, you might want to join them" Ben offered, and Quark jumped from the bed, nodding to him.

"Are they ferengi too?"

"No, one of them is human and another one is cardassian" he said, deciding to leave Odo out of this one for now. Quark's eyes widened and he stopped in front of the infirmary.

"I don't want to sleep with a cardassian. They are mean!"

"This one is not" Ben said, and Quark blinked slowly. "Come on Quark, you need some rest."

"As long as he doesn't hurt me" he said, and walked next to Ben and Miles, seeming quite calmer than he was a few minutes ago. Truly, Ben had never been able to appreciate how small ferengi children were, and Quark specially. He was much smaller than his mental aged seemed to show. He was probably around Jadzia's age, around ten or so. In ferengi years anyway.

Miles and Ben said goodbye when the interception between their hallways arrived, and ben walked Quark to his own bedroom, opening the door to see it empty. He checked in the bedroom, glad to find Julian and Garak asleep (Julian on his bed, Garak on Jake's), before he returned to Quark only to find him fascinated by Odo's vase.

"Don't touch that" Ben said immediately, even though Quark's hands were far away from the vase. He looked at Ben curiously and back at the goo.

"I never saw anything like this. Is this some type of molten metal?" he asked, curious, and Benjamin shook his head.

"No. Now, would you like some pajamas?" he asked, guiding Quark away from Odo, standing in front of the replicator. Quark looked at him and nodded.

"Yes please."

"Computer, replicate a ferengi styled pajama for a... how old are you?" he asked, and Quark smiled.

"Ten."

"For a ten year old ferengi boy" he completed, and in a few seconds the pajamas were replicated. He handed them to Quark, who seemed pleased, and left to the bathroom to change. Ben sighed to himself, sitting down by the desk where Odo was and looking at that strange, moving goo in front of him. "Constable... I wish you were here."

Of course, he received no answer. But the goo moved a little more, and he felt somewhat better.


	5. Chapter 5

In the next morning, he made a deal with chief O'Brien that they would try their best to get those children to like each other, at least during the time they were trying to figure out what was happening to them. Of course they called Bajor, assuring everything was fine, but telling them to keep the population out of DS9 while they solved the problem. Sisko also contacted the Federation, but they had little to help with. Basically, he and O'Brien were alone with this one.

"I will awake the boys now and meet you down at the replimat in a few minutes" Sisko told O'Brien through the comm, receiving a _'yes sir'_ in response. He sighed then, pulling himself up from the couch where he had slept, and making his way into the bedroom to check. It was still quite early, all things considered, but he hoped waking the boys up would not be hard.

When he walked inside, Garak was already awake, sitting on the bed while watching Julian and Quark asleep on Ben's bed. It was quite creepy, to say the least, but the boy only moved when Sisko walked inside, head turning towards him.

"Good morning Garak" he said, calmly, sitting next to the cardassian boy, his tail spread over the bed. Ben couldn't help but be curious, he had never seen Garak's tail before, but clearly it was quite predominant in his child self. The boy gave him a polite nod, turning to stare at the other two again.

"I did not see the ferengi yesterday" he commented, and Ben nodded, also facing the asleep children.

"No, we found him in the tubes yesterday. Chief O'Brien is waiting us for breakfast, would you like some clothes? You could wait for us outside if you'd like" he offered, and Garak looked at him again before nodding.

"I believe that would suffice" he said, and Ben stood up, being followed by the cardassian to the living room. He reached the replicator, and looked at the boy patiently. It took him a moment. "Does your replicator know how to make a cardassian overall?"

"I believe so, why don't you ask for it?" Ben stepped away, wanting to give the boy a little more space, and also trying to show he was not an enemy. He stepped closer, slowly, and looked at the replicator.

Ben watched as the boy pronounced some words he could not translate, clearly in cardassian language, and the replicator shone in response, producing a type of garment Ben had seen some cardassians use, sometimes. It was a form for robe that went down the knees, and a pair of pants, all in a dull brown coloration. The boy retrieved the clothes from the replicator, impressed, and Ben smiled.

"I will wake the others. You can dress up" he said, tapping Garak on the shoulder and heading inside the bedroom, leaving him alone. Once inside, he walked to the bed and looked over at the two boys completely asleep, gently holding their shoulders. "Quark? Juli-Jules?"

Both let out a soft grumble, turning a bit, and Sisko couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. Truly, they were nothing like Jake, with their own little ways and kinks, being children of other parents as they were, but Ben was a complete sucker for children, and seeing them sleepy on his bed made his heart flutter.

"It's too early..." Quark mumbled, pulling the blankets over himself, while Julian opened his eyes and rubbed them slowly, arm firmly wrapped around the bear he slept with.

"Is it breakfast time?" he asked, softly, looking up at Ben with sleep filled eyes. He nodded, and brushed the messy hair back, away from Julian's face, the boy leaning closer to his hand and closing his eyes. "I'm tired."

"I know, but you have to eat something" Ben said, standing up and removing Quark's blanket gently. "Come on Quark, I bet you're hungry."

"No" he groaned, pulling the blanket and whining when Sisko's grip grew stronger. "I wanna sleep!"

"You can sleep later. Come along" he said, pulling it all the way off and replicating some clothes for the boys. He handed each a pair and walked out of the room so they could change, finding Garak sitting still on the couch, changed and waiting for something. Ben guessed he was waiting for orders. He couldn't begin to imagine the training Cardassian children went through. "They will be ready soon, and we can eat."

"Very well" Garak responded, eyes now focused on Sisko. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"What are we doing in this station?" he asked, and Ben sat down in front of him, on a chair. "Is this a type of test?"

"I believe if it was, you would have failed by asking" Ben smiled, but it quickly faded by the fear that passed through Garak's eyes. "It's not a test. You haven't failed."

He did not seem convinced, or any calmer by the comforting words, but he did not speak again, looking down at his lap instead. Ben felt as if he had failed, whatever attempt to get closer to Garak seemed like a field of landmines. He would hardly ever have this chance again, and he was blowing it.

"We are ready" he heard Quark's grumpy voice coming from the room, and stood up, smiling when he found Quark and Julian well dressed and ready to depart. He nodded, to Garak, who too stood up, and took Odo's vase with him out of the room, finding a small hand slithering its way against his own free one. He looked down, smiling at Julian's wide eyes as he looked around the station, clearly trying to get himself used with the surroundings. Ben constantly checked to see if Quark and Garak were following, and they were, neither of them too interested in anything. They got to the lift and went down to the Promanade, finding O'Brien waiting for them with the girls at a table in the replimat, smiling as he saw Sisko coming closer.

"Sir" O'Brien said, standing up, and Ben redirected the boys to the tables of their choice. Quark decided against sitting with the girls, something Ben believed had to do with the Ferengi sexist views, sitting with Garak instead while Julian hopped on the chair by the humanoid girls and smiled at them, receiving sleepy smiles in return.

"How was the night chief?" Ben asked as he and O'Brien headed to the replicators, making their officer's favorite foods (from what they remembered at least) and serving them. Miles smiled at the girls, chuckling to himself.

"I can't wait for Molly to get to this age. It was so easy" he said, offering Kira and Jadzia their own dishes. Ben served Quark and Garak, before serving Julian.

"Yes, the boys weren't too hard either. I'm glad we have some very polite children here" he said, stopping when Julian grabbed his sleeve. "Yes, Jules?"

It was still strange to call him by another name.

"Can you make me some chocolate milk?" he asked, brown eyes wide and sweet, and Ben felt his heart melt a little more for the boy. He was so annoying as an adult, so gentle and sweet as a child.

"Of course" Ben headed to the replicator again and asked for some human chocolate milk, before placing it in front of Julian. The boy picked it up with both hands and took large gulps of it, making a sound so loud that even the boys in the other table looked over. Kira looked disgusted, while Jadzia was impressed.

Julian put the chocolate milk down again, after drinking half the glass, and wiped his milk moustache with his sleeve, grinning to Jadzia as he saw her gazing.

"It's delicious. Try it!" he pushed the mug to her, and she picked it up, taking a sip and smiling widely.

"Mister Sisko, I want one too!" she exclaimed, and upon her excitement, Kira forced herself to take a sip, deciding she too liked it and asking, less excitedly, for one. Quark then seemed intrigued, walking to their table and taking a gulp, humming and demanding he was given one chocolate milk at once, and ended up sitting with the girls and Julian while O'Brien and Benjamin replicated some more chocolate milk for the kids.

Once the four were settled, Ben walked to Garak's table, now empty except for the young cardassian, and offered him a mug of chocolate milk.

"Want to try it?" he asked, and the boy looked at him with distrust, before shifting his bright blue eyes down to the brown liquid and huffing, sounding almost offended.

"It looks like fish water. Disgusting" he said, pushing it away and turning his head back to the meal in front of him. Ben held back a sigh, placing the mug on the table anyway before going to serve himself, sitting with chief O'Brien and watching as the kids ate up.

It took a moment, before Julian got distracted from the conversation between Kira, Jadzia and Quark, turning to face Garak and seeing the cardassian alone. Something in his face resonated with Sisko, something he remembered from his childhood and Jake's own moments as a child, when they so humanly saw someone alone and were unable to stop themselves of trying to bring them some comfort.

Julian stood up from the table, making his way towards Garak and sitting next to him, pushing the mug with chocolate milk towards the cardassian while he stared back at Julian with distrust and confusion.

"It's really good. You should try" the human boy said, barely loud enough for Sisko to hear over Quark's squeals and Jadzia's laugh. Garak looked back at his plate, taking a bite of his own breakfast, and Julian pouted while pushing the mug closer to Garak. "I'll try your weird fish thing if you try the milk."

Finally Garak looked at Julian with another expression, seeming tired in a way that no young teen should, and tilted his head.

"Cardassians don't drink milk" he explained, and Julian's eyes widened.

"You are not mammals?" he asked, and Garak looked even more confused. "You know, you don't drink milk?"

"I just said that" Garak responded, somewhat annoyed, and Julian grinned.

"Another reason to try it. Maybe you'll like it!" he offered, now picking the mug up and handing it to Garak. "Please try it? It's good I promise!"

After a long time considering, long enough for Julian's little hand to begin shaking, Garak removed the mug from the boy's hand and stared down at it. His hands curled around the mug, in a vaguely similar way that humans did when their hands were cold, and then smelled the contents of the mug before opening his mouth in a little strange expression. After that, he took the mug to his lips and sipped on it, blinking slowly as the taste became known.

Julian was looking at him with so much expectation that even Sisko began rooting for the chocolate milk.

"It is... fine" Garak said, after tasting it, putting it back down, and unexpected for everyone, including Ben himself, Julian wrapped his arms around the cardassian, barely able to circle him completely, making the boy freeze in his arms.

"I'm proud of you for trying it! That's the first big step, that's what mom always says!" he said, excitedly, and pulled away, clearly deciding to sit next to Garak for the rest of the breakfast. Garak was still frozen for a long time before he slowly returned to his food, not saying anything nor looking at Julian, seeming more confused than angry at this point.

And Ben, well, he thanked the prophets for the human manners.


	6. Chapter 6

After the long breakfast they had, with Julian trying to convince everyone else to try different human foods, the station received a message from Bajor, clearly looking for the last officers that weren't able to get into the evacuation vessels. Sisko took the call in his office, saying that for now all the officers were safe, but the station would have to remain empty for a while longer, something the Bajoran provisional government wasn't happy about, but didn't discuss either. However, Ben then realized that while this babysitter job was surely fun, he had to worry more about the actual reason as to why all of his officers (and Garak and Quark) had returned to their childhoods, and get a way to fix it.

"Chief, do you think you can distract the group while I look for the reason this is happening?" he asked while the kids talked and played in the Promanade, both watching them closely. O'Brien narrowed his eyes, looking at him.

"No offense sir, but I think I can find the problem faster than you" he replied, and Sisko thought about it before nodding.

"You are right. I want you to go and find out what is going on, or at least how to fix it. I will stay and... find a way of entertaining this kids" Ben said, watching them over with a sigh. Miles seemed to think for a moment before he turned to his boss, holding his shoulder.

"Sir, if I may. I think perhaps taking them to learn some things in school would be ideal" he said. "Kids are easily distracted by homework. Just find something they enjoy."

"Good idea chief. I'll call you if I need your assistance" Ben agreed, and nodded for him to leave. While Miles left, the kids seemed to pay attention, Kira not seeming fond of the absence of the chief of operations. Ben walked to them, getting their attention easily. "Alright kids. It's time for school."

"School?" Kira asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, while Quark whined loudly while shaking his head.

"No I hate school!"

Ben thought he had anticipated that, but no, he hadn't. Luckily, he had two small friends that seemed eager to help, Julian and Jadzia's eyes shimmering.

"School! It's fun!" Jadzia said, smiling at Quark and Kira, who seemed a little less against it at their friend's excitement. "Come on, I bet we can learn a lot of things!"

"Like what? Fighting? Prophecies?" Kira asked, her eyes going from Jadzia to Sisko, who smiled at her kindly.

"Whatever you want to learn about" he assured, and offered his hand. Kira hesitantly took it, and he nodded. "Everyone get a partner, hold their hand. I don't want any of you getting lost" he added, and Jadzia was quick to take Quark's hand, who seemed to blush slightly while holding it back. His eyes then shifted to Julian and Garak, and while the human offered his hand, the cardassian didn't seem keen to taking it. "Garak. Take Jules' hand."

Julian was grinning widely, fingers curling and spreading as he waited, and Garak looked at Sisko with cold, blue eyes, before answering the gesture, placing his hand on Julian's and looking away with a sigh. Julian then looked at Sisko and smiled, giving him a nod.

"I've got my partner!"

"Good" Ben said, unable to hold back a fond chuckle, still holding Kira's hand and reaching for Odo's vase with his free one. "Come on, we are going to school."

While he gathered the children, O'Brien left to Ops to see if he could find anything, since they hadn’t found much in dock bay A. Hopefully with the station's scanners, he would be able to detect some variation of any kind, although he was expecting a shift in the quantum field, or maybe some alterations in subspace that could provoke a temporal distortion. Anything really, that could help them solve this little problem they had in their hands.

He reached Ops, walking inside the empty room with hesitation, before he walked to the main panels and checked everything. Indeed, there was only two vessels on board, the one he and Sisko arrived on and the one the officers would leave on. There were also no damages on the station, and no signal of anything wrong within the known parameters. He began a scan around the place, area by area, beginning with the dock bays and allowing the computer to do its thing while he analyzed the results. Clearly, it would take some time, each area taking at least five hours to scan, considering the amount of variables he had requested the computer to verify. It could take a while, and since there was no one else on board, he relaxed away from the children for a moment, glad that Sisko had agreed on staying in his place.

He was not that good with kids that weren't his own.

"Alright, here we are" Ben said, turning the lights and computers on, before letting go of Kira and placing Odo on the teacher's desk. "Everyone take a seat, I want to make sure you are all comfortable before we begin."

"Are you a real teacher?" Jadzia asked as she picked her seat right in front of Ben, in the front of the class. Kira sat next to her, Quark behind, while Garak redirected himself as far away from the group as possible. Julian seemed unsure where to sit, with the girls and Quark or with his partner, before he sat down on Quark's diagonal, so he would be almost the same distance between the groups.

"Well no, I am not a real teacher. However I do know a lot" he said, deciding to be honest with them. "now, I want all of you to open a folder in your computers and write down a few things you would like to learn. As in, the history of your planets, math, topography... anything you'd like."

The kids stared at him, and then down at the computers, and back at him.

"We don't know how to use these" Kira said, tilting her head, and he hummed to himself before walking to them and crouching in the middle of the group.

His eyes caught Garak's quick fingers working on his own computer, but decided to leave him alone for now as he taught the non federation children how to work on their computers.


	7. Chapter 7

Quark and Kira surely had quite the difficulty to get the hang of how the computers worked. He was glad that the chief had changed the consoles from cardassian programming to federation, or else it would have been way harder to explain. He changed the languages to their preferable ones, and when he went to check on Jadzia, she was already getting her hands into the official records about Trils. He smiled at her, petting her head, and the girl grinned widely at him before beginning to research about everything she could of her people.

When he looked back at the other two, Kira was searching through Bajoran history and spirituality, something Ben believed she was keen on doing, while Quark seemed to be countifying the probable profit spots for the system, checking commodities and prices all over the region.

Happy with their little arrangement, Ben decided it was time to worry about Garak. Before he could, though, he found Julian shyly looking at him, and the moment their eyes met the small boy looked back at his screen, poking randomly at it. It was clear by the way he was looking at the computer that he had no idea what he was doing, which was strange because he was a federation citizen, surely he had computers back at his childhood home.

After giving a quick glance at Garak (who was still typing away), he approached Julian and kneeled down next to the boy, who seemed startled and immediately clicked in a bunch of buttons, ending up in Klingon politics archives. He stared at the screen as if he was reading it, but he was clearly shivering and nervous next to Benjamin.

"Do you need some help?" he asked, kindly, and Julian looked back at him with his wide, adorable eyes.

"I... yeah" he whispered, sounding defeated, and Ben hummed before tapping for the computer to return to the main screen.

"What do you want to learn about?" he asked, softly, and the boy looked at the screen that offered many subjects to choose from. The amount of words on the screen seemed to overwhelm him, so Benjamin clicked on something he knew Julian liked, sports. "What about now?"

He seemed calmer with the fewer options in front of him, but still not calm enough. Julian looked between the screen and Sisko, before lifting his finger and nervously clicking on the 'classical earth games' selection. Ben nodded, seeing some of his favorite sports coming up. When 'tennis' showed up in the screen, Julian clicked on it, and a bunch of different lessons appeared in front of him, from how to play to different famous tennis players, to the advancements of the sport and so on. Julian looked at Benjamin, waiting for a reaction, and the only thing he did was nod towards the screen so he could choose. When he chose different matches through the centuries, Ben nodded and stood up.

Immediately Julian's hand wrapped around his and held him in place.

"I-I can change if you don't like what I chose" he said, quickly, nervously, and Ben furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I like it, Jules?" he asked, kneeling down again, and Julian waved his legs and looked down at his lap, biting his bottom lip tightly before answering.

"My parents don't like it when I want to learn about stupid things... like sports... and tennis" he whispered, looking at Ben, and Sisko realized that was something he didn't know about his officer, something he probably hadn't been keen on sharing. He hoped Julian wouldn't mind.

"Tennis and sports are not stupid. While you are here, you are free to learn whatever you want" he assured, rubbing his hair, and Julian immediately relaxed, closing his eyes and then smiling to Benjamin. "There you are. Now have fun."

"Okay!" he squealed, mood already turned upside down, before he focused again on the screen and chose some matches to watch through. Ben smiled at him, shaking his head, and then finally focused on Garak again, who was now even more attentive to his screen. Slowly, Benjamin walked to him, and once next to the boy he stopped. Garak stopped too, head slowly turning to look up at Sisko.

"How is your research and learning?" he asked, calmly, but the boy hid something hot inside his eyes, like anger. No matter how well Sisko knew adult Garak, he couldn't help but notice that by whatever age he was now, his ability to hide feelings had not yet been completely developed.

"Fine" he said, coldly, and straightened his back. Ben stood his ground, knowing the boy could try anything. "If you don't mind... I would like to ask you a few questions."

"Not at all. Please follow me" Ben said, nodding to the door, and walked out while being followed by Garak to the promenade. He didn't care about leaving the others inside, as long as he had Garak under control. He still wasn’t sure about the boy. Once they were far away from the school that they could stop their conversation without the children hearing, Sisko stood and looked at him. "Ask away."

"We are in the future" he said, firmly, and Ben stared at him since that was not a question. "Why?"

"You are not in the future. You are precisely where you should be" Ben said, calmly, trying to act as mysterious and relaxed as possible. He couldn’t simply tell the truth, he didn't know what Garak would do, and besides, he was hoping this situation would be settled soon enough.

"I do not understand if this is some kind of test, or a prison, maybe a new torture the Obsidian Order has developed, but it will not work on me. I am ready for it, and I will not rest until I'm through" he said, firm and quiet, way too passionate for normal, simple Garak. But this was not a forty year old cardassian spy, this was a boy, being trained to become this forty year old spy. "I know who you are, commander Sisko. I know Bajor is out of Cardassia's occupation for four years. I know something is wrong here, and whatever that is, I will find out. And you will regret taking me away from my planet."

"how can you be sure this isn't a hologram?" Ben asked, deciding to play along with Garak's game. "Maybe you are in Cardassia. Maybe they removed your memories. Maybe they took you to the future. Maybe none of this is real. How will you find out? In the way I see it, you are locked up here with us, and there is no way for you to leave. So you better quiet down your doubts and start acting like a normal child. We don't need your training here on this station" he added, firm and strong, and the boy's manners immediately changed, his back straightening and eye ridges furrowing. "If you cause trouble, as insignificant as it might be, I will have you locked up in a cell. Is that clear?"

He didn't like acting like this with a child, but Garak was giving him no other choice. After a moment of silence, those angry blue eyes seemed to settle, and turned cold again as he gave the human a nod.

"Clear, sir."

Sisko wondered for how long he would be able to control that wanna-be spy in his station.


	8. Chapter 8

They made their way back inside the classroom, and Ben allowed Garak to have access to the teaching computers, knowing there wasn't much he would be able to access on his own from those terminals. He returned his attention to the vase on top of his own desk, to check on Odo, who seemed still quiet and still inside the recipient, before he walked to the other children and smiled at them.

"So, how is your studying?" he asked, crouching between their desks. The first to answer was Quark, making a nosy sound that was very close to Nog's whenever he had an idea.

"There is plenty of profit opportunities in this sector!" he said, happily, looking back at Sisko. "Once I'm the right age, I will make a fortune for myself right here!"

"I'm sure you are" he agreed, smiling as the boy returned eagerly to his studies. He then turned to Kira, who looked completely entertained by whatever was on her screen. He leaned over to check, seeing some form of bajoran ritual being performed by one of the older kais. "Kira?"

"It is beautiful... I've never seen it" she whispered, holding the sides of the screen, her eyes wide in wonder. "Do you think... when the cardassians leave, I will be able to see one of these?"

Ben checked the screen again, realizing it was a ritual he had never witnessed before, and then smiled down at the little girl who watched him with expectant eyes.

"I think you will. And I'm sure the occupation will be over very soon" he whispered, brushing her hair, and she smiled and looked back at the screen, clearly wanting to pay full attention to the video. He moved along to Dax, or better, Jadzia, watching as she made notes after notes in her computer of the Trill traditions and whatever else she could find. "let me guess. You are studying?"

"We have to study since we are little to gain the possibility of becoming joined" she said, not taking her attentive eyes off the screen, selecting more data and writing it down. "It is my objective, to be joined one day."

"I know. And you will do it just fine" Ben said, only now wondering what had happened to Dax during this event that took away their age. Hopefully Dax was still intact, either as an egg inside Jadzia or simply... still an adult, but he couldn't be sure. And without Bashir to help, he doubted he would get into any conclusions on his own.

Jadzia looked at him with curiosity, and tilted her head.

"You seem to know a lot about us, and we don't know anything about you" she said, and Ben smiled at how smart she was.

"Isn't that how adults work?" he suggested, and she hummed before nodding.

"It is. I understand. Thank you for believing in me" she added, smiling and returning to her studies. Ben let out a silent sigh, turning around and finding Julian staring at him again, looking away when their eyes met.

What was wrong with that kid?

He approached Julian calmly, crouching down next to him and smiling at the boy who seemed to avoid all type of eye contact possible.

"Hey Jules. How's your learning going?" he asked, tilting his head, but Julian bit his lip again and squeezed his little hands together over his lap. He was clearly nervous, but Ben didn't know why. "What's wrong?"

After a moment of silence, Julian mumbled something, so quietly and fast that Ben wasn't able to catch a single word. He asked the boy to repeat himself, and he let out a miniscule sigh, eyes closing tightly.

"I'm stupid..." he whispered, as if for that alone Sisko was going to punish him. The man frowned, and then took Julian's hands on his own, the boy jumping and then opening his eyes.

"Jules, what brought this up?" he asked, honestly worried both with his officer and the little boy in front of him. "Why do you think that?"

"Quark showed me a-a bunch of numbers and I didn't understand them" he said, his bottom lip beginning to tremble, before Ben sighed and shook his head.

"Of course you didn't, you are younger than him, you don't understand numbers as well as he does yet" he said, softly, but Julian shook his head while his eyes watered.

"He said even a baby could do it and I couldn't!" he whimpered, and Ben held back a sigh, knowing it wasn't Quark's fault at all. He squeezed Julian's hands firmly and shook his head.

"He is wrong. Just because he knows, doesn't mean you should know. First of all, he is older than you. Second, you are probably way better than him in sports or something else... everyone is good at something, no one can be good at everything."

"B-but my dad always sa-says that I have to be... good... that I'm too sl-slow and under... underde... underdeve... velo..."

"Underdeveloped?" Sisko asked, and Julian nodded, sniffling softly and wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Jules, your father is wrong. Maybe you don't know everything right away, it doesn't mean you are underdeveloped. Maybe you will never understand it, and it still wouldn't make you underdeveloped. You are great and intelligent in your own way, Jules."

Julian's eyes were still filled with tears, but they gave space to a smile as he moved closer, squeezing Ben's hands firmly.

"You think so?" he whispered, and Benjamin nodded, wiping his tears away.

"I know so. What about a hug?"

"Yeah" Julian agreed, wrapping his little arms around Ben's shoulders and squeezing. Ben hugged him back, the boy so small and thin on his arms, unlike Jake who had always been a little stronger for his age. After it lasted enough, Ben pulled away, and Julian wiped the end of his tears away. "I should go back to studying."

"You should" Ben agreed, and looked up when he heard someone cleaning their throat. Miles was just outside, looking at Sisko, and by his face, the news weren't good. "I'll be right back children" he announced, following the officer out of the school towards the promenade.

He hoped there would be good news.


	9. Chapter 9

There were some good news.

The chief explained to him that apparently nothing in the station itself had been affected, and he even took the time to contact Bajor and make sure no one else had suffered any time to change, which they hadn't. he requested that the station was kept empty for the time being, just so they could try to fix the problem, but also told the first minister that if they didn't hear from Sisko or O'Brien for more than 24 hours, they were authorized to come back to the station, because probably something would have happened in the meantime.

Regarding the temporal distortion, however, Miles had found nothing. He followed some of the strange subspace traces left by whatever transformed the officers, but was unable to get a precise enough reading to find what or who it was. Perhaps Dax would have been able to help him, but as they were, she wouldn't be much use for anything Ops related.

And of course Sisko wasn't happy about it, because it meant that they didn't have anyone to help them in this little problematic situation they had found themselves on, and even worst, he was sure they would run out of ideas on how to distract those children. It still surprised him that none of them requested for their parents, a subject he would avoid for as long as he could, because there was no way he could bring that to the attention of his officer's parents.

Or at least, he hoped he could avoid it for a while longer.

"Very well chief. I suggest we make a lunch break for now, make sure the children are well fed, maybe find some holosuit program to entertain them while you and I find ways of dealing with this" he said, and Miles agreed with a nod. "Lets take them to the replimat and give them some food. I remember some holosuit programs Jake used when he was fourteen, about exploring other planets. I think it should entertain them for a while."

"I agree sir. Besides, I could use any help I could get" O'Brien said, walking back to the school with Sisko. They got inside, telling the children it was time for lunch, and some of them stood up right away while others just remained on their seat. Sisko called again, and they all came, while he took Odo's vase and held it close to himself.

"Mister Sisko, why do you carry that weird shiny liquid around?" Jadzia asked while they walked towards the replimat, her eyes wide and curious as Odo moved inside the vase. Ben looked at her and then smiled.

"This is a lifeform. I have to protect it" he explained, calling the attention of the other kids nearby.

"A life form? But it looks like goo" Julian said, coming closer, and soon the younger children were all surrounding him to look at Odo, while Garak followed the chief without much interest.

"It's shiny, I bet it is worth some pounds of latinum" Quark said, reaching out for it, but Sisko raised it above where the kids could reach.

"I can't believe something like that has a brain" Kira argued, and Ben sighed.

"Well, it does. It is an intelligent life form and it can be hurt just like any of you. Now, lets eat, and after lunch I will try to explain to you what our friend here is" he said, nodding forwards, and the kids returned their pace towards the replimat, once again making their favored groups. Like before, Julian seemed hesitant on which table to sit, with the girls and Quark or with Garak, before silently (and clearly guiltily) sitting with the first group and settling in.

Sisko placed Odo on his and Miles' table and helped the chief serve the children, and once they were all settled and eating, the two men sat together and watched over their officers silently.

"I never thought I would say it, but it makes me feel bad to see Garak alone" Miles whispered, giving a quick glance to the boy, while Ben nodded slowly and cut a piece of his eggplant beef.

"Even when we don't like someone, or their species, we still feel empathetic towards them" he said, also watching the boy as he silently chewed down his food. "Besides, he is a child now. And we are adults. We can't help but feel responsible."

"I saw children his age die in battle, fighting among other soldiers. Cardassians are ruthless, even towards their own kind" Miles whispered back, shaking his head and taking a sip of his beer. "It is insane, what they do to their children. What they make them do, what they go through."

"Let us hope that with the end of the occupation and this new era in the alpha quadrant, Cardassian children have better lives than they used to have" Ben said, settling the subject with a nod, before checking on the bigger group and smiling. "I'm glad they are so comfortable with each other. I don't think they will cause any trouble."

"I wouldn't be sure. I never trusted Quark and I'm not going to start trusting him just because he is a kid" Miles said, shaking his head. Ben chuckled, unable to help himself.

"I understand your point of view, but after getting acquainted with Nog, I can't think of a child Ferengi as bad as I did before" he admitted, finding quite adorable how Quark snorted and complained to the girls, who seemed to easily shut him up and giggle at his rude remarks. Kira smiled and laughed, and so did Jadzia, who clearly found very funny to make fun of Quark's mannerisms, while Julian just seemed to smile and enjoy the company of other children.

"There's something I still don't understand, sir. Jadzia, Kira and Quark all turned ten, which would suggest some type of pattern. But Julian turned seven and Garak turned fourteen..." Miles said, and looked at the vase with Odo inside. "And we have no idea how old Odo is supposed to be. Why didn't the effect work the same on everyone?"

"I don't know chief, I guess that's something else we are going to have to find out" he said, looking at the officer and smiling. "For now, we should just relax, eat our lunch, and take the children to the holosuit so we can work on finding out how to revert this process. We can't take care of this children forever."

"That I can agree on, sir" Miles chuckled and drank down his beer.

When the children finally finished their lunches, Miles and Ben took them to the holosuits, getting some educational program from the school and making sure they were all settled. They knew it was safe, but they weren't sure about leaving the children alone.

Yet, it was something that had to be done.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright children, listen up. You are all going to an expedition on hologram Vulcan, okay? Commander Sisko and I have to check on the station, we will be back in five hours. Inside you will have plenty of things to do, and some holographic people will help you with anything you need" O'Brien explained as Sisko fixed up the parameters to the holosuit. The kids stared up at the chief, waiting, and he sighed. "Okay?"

"Okay" Jadzia, Kira and Julian agreed. Garak didn't answer, his eyes shifting around the room, and Quark groaned in disdain, shaking his head.

"Vulcan is boring, we should go to Ferenginar" he said, and Miles narrowed his eyes.

"Right now you are going to Vulcan. If you behave we can take you anywhere you want" he said firmly, and Sisko pulled away from the computer, nodding to the chief. "Computer, begin Vulcan Simulation One."

In a second, the room around them turned into dusty rocks, and a horizon showed in the walls. The kids gasped, running in circles to see everything, while Garak just furrowed his eye ridges and crossed his arms.

"Behave" Sisko said, firmly, just before two Vulcans appeared to take the children away. Ben nodded to Miles then, and they called for the exit, making their way out to go and find whatever had made this their current situation.

While the kids were taken somewhere else, Garak remained stationary, looking at the place where the door had materialized, watching as it became some form of rock formation. None of this made any sense, and the more he thought about it, the less it seemed like something his father, the order or the central command would pull. No, this wasn't a test, it couldn't be. None of the cardassian tests he had gone through were this... slow. By now, the children should have been taken hostage, or at least tried to befriend him, and he would have met some cardassians in the process. But the station was empty, and now they were in a hologram room of sorts, something he had never seen in Cardassia. None of this made any sense, and he was getting tired of it.

"Not in the mood for Vulcan either?" he heard a voice soming from behind, and turned around to find the Ferengi looking at him, leaning against a rock. "I understand."

"Oh, do you?" Garak asked, raising one eye ridge at him. The boy chuckled and nodded, walking closer to him.

"Yeah. I don't want to be stuck in a holosuit. I want to go around the station, explore, find valuable items to sell. This place is boring, there's only fake rock here. No good for business" he said, looking over at the rock formation where the exit had been a few seconds ago. "We should help each other. Find a way of getting out of here."

"As if I would need a Ferengi's help" Garak said, coldly, walking forward towards the formation. "Computer, exit."

But nothing showed up.

"Did you realy think those hoo-mans would let us get out of here that easy?" the ferengi... Quark, said, chuckling at him. "They probably set something up so we can't activate the holosuit program. But don't worry, I've seen my fair share of holosuits."

"You are a child" Garak said, unable to hold back the anger in his voice. There was no way this ferengi boy knew more than him about escaping a situation.

"I am. I am a Ferengi child" Quark wiggled his disgusting eye cartilage, and Garak looked away in disgust. "There isn't a lock that can't be picked. That's what my people always say."

"Your people are a disgusting bunch of mercenary savages" Garak hissed, but Quark didn't seem offended or upset. He just shrugged and walked closer to the rock formation, humming to himself.

"Lets see... we know there is a door in here. So if we throw something big enough to disrupt the holographic barrier, maybe we could find the door and deactivate the program" Quark said, looking back at Garak. "You are stronger than me. Can you throw that rock over to this one?"

Garak followed the ferengi's finger, and found a rock of reasonable size next to him. He picked it up easily, and without saying anything threw it at the rocks, almost hitting the ferengi who squealed and jumped away. Indeed, the impact made the holographic barrier glitch for a second, long enough to see the edge of the door.

"Maybe you won't be useless after all" Garak said, grabbing another rock and throwing it at the wall, until they located the controls. Once there, he came closer and tapped on the pad, having to constantly throw a rock to glitch out the program, before he was finally able to shut it off.

The rocks and sand turned back to solid floor, and he turned around to see the three kids now completely lost in the middle of the room.

"What did you do?" the bajoran girl asked, her face immediately going red with anger, but he didn't have time for this. Garak walked to the door, requesting it open, and once it opened he walked past it, looking around the station. They had just arrived there, so he knew he was somewhere in the middle of the facility, but now he needed to find somewhere he could gain access to a computer. A real one, not a school one. One where he could send a message to Cardassia, warn them he was being kept hostage in a strange station.

So, he left off, leaving the children behind.

Quark was the next to follow, ignoring Jadzia's calls and Kira's loud complaints. He made his way outside the holosuit, finding himself in a pretty place. It was all red and yellow and from what he could see from the balcony, there were drinks and a bar. Somewhere profitable, he believed.

And that would have kept his attention, wasn't the fact that the hoo-man had left his precious vase behind, on top of one of the desks down on the bar.

The shiny liquid made Quark's eyes widen, and he rushed down the spiral stairs towards the main floor, jumping on top of a chair and pulling the vase closer. The liquid moved a bit as he moved the vase around, and he became even more curious about it. He remembered the hoo-man saying this was a life form, but he had never seen a life form that looked some much like liquid gold. Maybe it would be profitable, maybe someone would like to buy it.

He reached inside the vase, carefully, one finger pointed towards the liquid to touch it. However, when he reached the surface, the liquid moved, squeezing itself away from his finger.

His eyes widened even more.

Quark tried again, moving his finger further down, but no matter how far he went, the liquid always found a way of moving somewhere he couldn't touch. He started to move his finger in circles, hoping the liquid wouldn't be fast enough, but it was, avoiding every single touch.

After a while, he started to get impatient, and spread out his fingers so the liquid couldn't escape, pushing his hand down as far as it went. It still didn't work. Somehow the liquid shifted around. So, he decided against it, pulling his hand away and pressing it against the transparent vase. Then, something happened.

It was strange, it formed a blob against the glass, and it spread out like five, blobby fingers, with no proportion to them but seeming close enough to a hand to make Quark squeal. He pulled away, and the blob melted back into the liquid, standing still once more.

They stared at each other, Quark and the liquid, before he reached out with his hand spread and touched the glass again. In a moment, the liquid turned into a blob, and then this blob spread out to make fingers, this time following the proportions and shapes glass.

His eyes sparkled when he saw the hand reflecting his own.


	11. Chapter 11

Garak made his way through the main floor of the station, looking for any usable computer he could find. He tried several on the way around the facility, finding most of them to be useless, until he saw a room with glass doors, closed off to the side. He made his way into it, the doors opening automatically, and looked around the panel and the chairs, the doors to the side and the huge screens on the walls. He made hi way around the panel, sitting down on the chair and running the computer on, finding it to be the security officer's computer. That would give him something to work on.

He could see that the computers and overall architecture of the station closely resembled Cardassia's military headquarters. Clearly, this facility had been made by cardassians, even if now it ran a completely different program, one he recognized but didn't know much about. It wasn't bajoran, Klingon or Romulan, the ones they studied constantly in the order. Considering the humans though, and their ranks, he took a wild guess that this was the program from the less known Federation, the one ruled by terrans. The order had advanced classes just about them, due to their overbearing power in the galaxy and their alliances with several other races such as Vulcans and andorians.

Garak would never understand how a people clearly so... soft and weak could rule so many sectors of the galaxy, and even more, rule by democracy instead of force or power. It was inconceivable in his cardassian mind, but he digressed. If the order had thought him anything was that every single computer program was built with roughly the same types of security measures, and those were things he could understand.

Using the training he had with other types of technologies, he began looking around the files he had access to see if he could find anything to use in his advantage. Luckily, he wasn't looking for a way of destroying or disarming the station, since that would be basically impossible with no type of access code, but he found a few emergency files that could be accessed by pretty much anyone in case of issues in the station. He wondered for a second how humans could be so unprepared, but immediately pushed the thought aside not to take his attention away from the task at hand.

Through the emergency channels, he was able to reach interplanetary communications and find Cardassia as one of the first in the list. He clicked on the file, finding a few names, all of them unknown to him, trying to find someone he knew, someone he trusted. Part of him wished to find his father's name in the list, but once he didn’t, he decided to go through ranks. Being bold as he always was, Garak found the ex coordinator of the station, a cardassian named Dukat, and decided to connect to him instead. The computer said he was one of the military leaders of the government, so maybe he would be able to give Garak a way to his father, whom he doubted was dead at this point in time.

They were in the future, sure, but his father would not have died. Garak knew him too well.

So, Gul Dukat it was.

"That cardassian boy, I said we couldn't trust him! I told you! He's evil and he wants to kill us and put us to work in the mines!" Kira grumbled and groaned as she talked, one hand tightly wrapped around Jadzia's. The little trill girl was silently guiding Kira and Julian through the main floor of the station, looking for Miles or Benjamin, since they didn't know how to turn the hologram back on again. However, she didn't have a good memory of the station, and while she knew they had gone to ops, she didn't know where or what ops was. "Are you listening to me?!"

"I don't wanna die" Julian whimpered, holding Jadzia's left hand tightly, almost wrapping himself around her arm as his eyes teared up. "I don't wanna work in a mine, I want my mommy..."

"Your mommy can't save you from cardassians!" Kira groaned, before Jadzia looked at her angrily.

"Nerys, stop! You are scaring him and not helping anyone!" she said, pulling Julian closer. "It's okay, he won't hurt us. Now we need to find Miles. He can help us."

"D-do you know where they are?" Julian whispered, looking up at her with wide, scared eyes. She nodded, even though she wasn't sure.

"Yes, I do. But first we need to go to the school and find a map so I can take us there" she said, taking both kids towards the school. Kira was huffing, even though she was scared, while Julian kept wiping the tears away from his eyes, trembling while he held tight onto Jadzia.

ON the way to the school, however, Miles and Benajmin appeared from a lift and the three kids ran to them, relieved. Kira and Jadzia hugged Miles' legs while Julian jumped on Benjamin's lap, burying his face into his chest.

"What happened? We got a message from the computer saying the holosuit program had been deactivated" Ben asked, holding Julian close, while Jadzia pulled away to explain. She didn't have the chance though.

"It was the cardassian boy!" Kira yelled, angrily, while holding Miles' pants. "He got the program down with that ferengi, and ran off the room as fast as he could! He is going to call Cardassian troops and we are going to die!"

"Hey hey hey no one is going to die" Miles said, easily picking up the girl and poking her nose, making her furrow her eyebrows. "We are here, we will protect you. And he can't possible get access to any communication device. Okay? You're safe."

"... okay" Kira whispered, not convinced, but comfortably relaxing in the man's arms. He put her down, and she remained close to him.

"What about Quark? The ferengi?" Ben asked, and Jadzia shook her head.

"We don't know. He left right after Garak did, but we didn't see him anywhere" she said, and Julian pulled away, rubbing his eyes.

"He took your liquid" he mumbled, and Ben looked at him confused. "When we walked through the bar, it wasn't on the table anymore... I think he took it..."

"I think the cardassian took it" Kira said, and Miles looked at Benjamin with slight concern.

"Lets get you three back to your quarters, until we find Garak and Quark. There you will be safe" Ben said, nodding to the lift, and the girls walked with Miles while he kept Julian on his arms, the little boy clearly not going anywhere as he held tighter on the man's uniform.


	12. Chapter 12

When they reached the quarters, Julian demanded to be kept with the girls, clearly too scared and attached to them to be left alone in a room just for himself. Both Benjamin and Miles agreed, allowing Julian to stay in the O'brien's quarters with the girls, while the two of them went off to find Garak, Quark and Odo. Once safely inside their quarters, Kira rushed to the couch and sat down while Jadzia walked to the replicator, thinking up something to eat before noticing Julian standing still by the door, looking scared and unsure.

"Hey Jules, come here" she called, offering her hand, and his eyes widened before he rushed to her, holding it tightly. "Do you want anything to eat? A snack?"

Julian looked at her, then at Kira who was laying on the couch, eyes at the ceiling, and shook his head. Jadzia smiled, nodding and asking for herself some hasgino fruit, typical from Trill, before taking Julian to the couch and sitting next to Kira.

"I can't believe we let ourselves be fooled by that cardassian" Kira said, clearly unhappy, while Jadzia tore the fruit apart to get to the pulp and bit it down. "I mean, we should have seen it coming! Now we are all in danger!"

"W-why?" Julian whispered, leaning against Jadzia while staring at Kira, eyes wide in fear.

"Because Cardassians don’t do anything other than hurting and killing bajorans!" she cried out, jumping up and making the couch bounce, the fruits almost falling from Jadzia's arms. "Don't you know anything?!"

"I'm not b-bajoran" Julian whispered, or more like it, whimpered, his eyes tearing up again as Jadzia sighed and looked at Kira.

"You are scaring him, could you please stop?" she asked, offering the girl a fruit. When she refused, looking away, Jadzia shrugged and took another bite. "Benjamin and Miles will protect us. Even if the cardassians want to attack."

"Two men can't protect anything from Cardassians. They will come and destroy this place, break it piece by piece, and then they will eat us with their sharp teeth and cut us open with their claws" Kira growled, crossing her arms, while Julian whimpered again. "Stop crying! You're such a crying baby! You need to be ready for battle!"

"Kira stop!" Jadzia cried out again, hugging Julian on her side. "We are not going to fight! We are children!"

"If you're old enough to be chosen for the mines, you are old enough to fight, that's what my people say" Kira whispered, looking at Julian right in his eyes. "If they come, I will be ready. And you should be too."

Jadzia shook her head, holding Julian tighter and eating her fruit, while the little boy kept staring at Kira in fear, holding tightly onto Jadzia and thinking about what the other girl had said. They would need to fight. He didn't want to be eaten by evil cardassians.

Hopefully, they weren't all evil.

Quark was very much aware that the moment the hoomans found out that they had left the holosuit, they would be coming after them. So, he took the liquid with him to the most secret place he could think of: the holosuit. Why? Because they would never think they would just return to the holosuit.

He didn't care much about their scenario, luckily because he knew nothing about this holosuit. His attention was focused on the liquid on the vase that had turned into a blob in front of him that looked very similar to a hand. He remembered vaguely listening to the commander explaining to Jadzia how this liquid was actually a life form, and he didn't believe it until now.

Quark placed the vase down, staring at it, and touched his hand on the glass again. He waited patiently, and the liquid moved to form the same blob it had formed a few minutes before, taking the rough shape of a hand and pressing back against the glass. Quark then pulled away, thinking to himself, before he removed his shoes and pressed his foot to the glass instead.

It took the blob a while to imitate the new format, but eventually it did, doing a somewhat approximated form a foot. Quark laughed to himself, finding this amazing, but regretted it immediately since the laugh caused the blob to dissolve into the liquid again.

"Sorry sorry" he said, softly, taking his foot away and moving closer to the vase. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

The liquid moved a little, almost like a natural movement of water, but Quark didn't know what that meant, or if the liquid understood him. So instead, he slowly reached inside the vase, like he did before, and just like it the liquid twisted and turned to avoid his touch. However, instead of pressing down, he just allowed his hand to stand a few centimeters away from the liquid, and waited patiently.

The liquid moved agitated, clearly waiting for some movement, and when it didn't come, the liquid settled. After settled, it began to move again, calmly now, in those natural water movements, just before it hesitantly began to form a long blob, going in the direction of Quark's hand. Unknown to himself, the ferengi held his breath, awaiting for that exciting touch, before the blob of liquid very lightly brushed against his palm, making the boy breathe out again, a grin showing on his face.

The blob recoiled, a little, before going up again and slowly pressing against Quark's palm, the ferengi feeling the strange pressure, the cold and watery texture. The blob expanded on his palm, following the shape, but when it reached the cut of his fingers, instead of following them the blob curled around them, encapsulating Quark's hand in a ball of weird amber liquid and making him instantly squeal, pulling his hand away, the blob immediately turning back into liquid.

So Quark had scared the blob, and now the blob scared him. The ferengi watched attentively for any other movement, and after a moment, the same long blob appeared, making its way up until the edge of the vase and spreading out in a hand format. It waited, patiently, like Quark had waited, and the boy slowly reached out again, placing his palm down on the blob, resting, the blob making no movements to expand upon his hand.

It seemed they were making slow, but steady progress.

By the time they found Garak, he was already wondering around the Promenade, calmly, looking around and getting acquainted with the place. Benjamin and Miles approached him, clearly frustrated, but the cardassian boy gave them a simple nod and assured those events would not repeat themselves.

"It was an accident really, and when I noticed it, I left to call you both" he explained as they walked him back to their quarters. "However I could not find the pathway to where you were, or any indication of your presence, so I strolled around. I hope you don't mind."

"We were worried that is all" Benjamin said, clearly untrusting of him, which Garak had to applaud of course. Everyone that remained unsure of his intentions were welcomed, in his book at least. "You can stay in my quarters while we go find Quark."

"Yes of course" he nodded, walking inside once Benjamin opened the doors and looking around at the empty room, unable to stop the smirk that curled on his mouth.

The incompetent terrans had given him just enough time, but it was more than necessary. Convincing Gul Dukat of whom he was had been a tiresome feat, but he had accomplished it beautifully, and now he had his orders: await for a few days, find out everything he could about the other children, who they were and how they had gotten there, and get ready for the approach of the cardassian ships. Those were plans he could follow, objectives that could guide him.

Now, his work had begun.


	13. Chapter 13

Miles and Benjamin looked around for Quark and Odo for a full hour like desperate parents until they remembered where they were. They asked the computer for the ferengi's location, getting a precise answer: the holosuit. The officers looked at each other, completely annoyed by their own inability to think right, before they rushed back to the bar and ran upstairs, opening the holodeck door hoping the boy hadn't found out about the many ways the holodeck could be used.

When the doors opened, they found the room on its generic state, no program in use. Instead, Quark was standing on the middle of the suit, with a small blob in front of him. Miles looked at Benjamin, surprised, before both beings noticed their arrival and the blob quickly jumped inside the vase, turning back into liquid.

"Look what you've done!" Quark complained with a loud whine, looking back at the officers and then at the vase. "Come on friend, come back out! You were doing so good!"

"Quark..." Ben said, walking closer to the boy, watching the liquid closely. "I told you this is not a toy-"

"I know commander! It's my friend! Well, it was becoming my friend until you two decided to barge in like animals!" he said, pulling the vase close to himself and hugging it. "You scared him!"

"... We are sorry" was all Ben could think about saying. "Now, would you come with us back to the quarters? It's clear none of you are going to stay quiet while we are away."

"Fine, but I'm going to keep him" Quark said, holding the vase tightly and standing up. "He is my friend now."

"Alright" Sisko sighed and showed Quark the way out. The boy walked away towards the door with the vase tight on his arms, and Miles gave the commander a last look before both of them took the ferengi boy back to their quarters.

Once the children were all settled, Miles and Ben sat down to have a conversation about what they could do. They considered calling Star Fleet, maybe with some more personal they would be able to find out what had happened quicker, but they were afraid that whatever changed the others would change them as well, eventually. They also considered talking to Bajor, since they already knew the situation in part, but decided to wait another day and try to find out by themselves what could have caused all of this issue.

While they spoke, Kira, Jadzia and Julian laid silently on the couch, the two girls reading from some padds while Julian held his new stuffed bear. The more he looked at it, the more he missed Kukalaka, wherever he was. He looked inside the bear's beady eyes, and felt his own eyes tearing up. He wanted his bear, he wanted to get out of this station and go home. Just now he thought about his parents, and how he missed his mommy, how he wanted to be in his room again.

His eyes teared up so much that they couldn't hold the tears in anymore, and they slid down his face as he let out a soft sob. The sound called the girls' attention, and Jadzia reached out for his hand, frowning.

"What's wrong Jules?" she asked, always sweet, and he sniffled and sobbed again, a small hiccup following it.

"I want my mommy" he whimpered, hugging his teddy bear with his free arm and hiccupping again, the sobs turning louder and the tears falling faster. "I want K-Kukalak-ka!"

"What is that?" Kira asked, confused and annoyed, and he showed his teddy bear to her. "A stuffed animal?"

"Y-yeah!" he whimpered, sobbing louder now, and even when Jadzia hugged him, it didn't stop. "I want my mom! My dad!" he cried out, and suddenly the doors opened and the adults came running inside in worry.

Julian squeezed himself away from Jadzia, running to Benjamin while sobbing and hugging his leg, until the man picked him up and hugged him tight. Julian kept sobbing and crying for a while, but slowly the tears stopped, and he looked at the girls.

"He wants his parents" Jadzia explained, while Kira rolled her eyes.

"He's a cry baby."

Benjamin sighed and gave Miles a nod to remain in the room before he took Julian away towards his own quarters, where Garak and Quark were staying. Julian held so tightly onto him that Ben remembered the few times Jake had had nightmares and would cling onto him for dear life. Those were bittersweet memories.

"There there" he whispered, brushing Julian's hair and noticing how his breath seemed to slow down. He walked inside the room, giving Quark and Garak a quick stare before taking Julian to the bedroom to talk. The cardassian gave him a quick look over his padd before returning to his reading, while Quark payed them no mind, trying to make his new friend come out of his liquid with no avail.

Once inside the bedroom, Ben sat down and placed Julian on his lap, looking at the boy as he sniffled. They remained quiet until he calmed down, the tears and sobs stopping and giving place to tired yawns. It was still early in the day, but Ben guessed the stress had taken a toll on little Julian.

"Are you better?" he asked, brushing the boy's hair, and he nodded with another yawn. "Good. Tell me what happened. Why are you crying."

"I-I miss my mom... and my dad..." he whispered, looking up at Ben, and even though he was around seven he looked much younger. "And Kukalaka..."

"If we found Kukalaka, would you feel better?" Ben suggested, and Julian nodded slowly, holding tightly onto his shirt. "Alright. I think we can find him somewhere... wanna come with me to look?"

"Yeah" Julian nodded, and Sisko gently stood up, putting the boy easily over his shoulders. Jake used to be much heavier than Julian was, from what Ben remembered. The boy held onto his head, and looked around, before Ben took off and made his way out of the room.

He was taking a wild guess, but hopefully Julian had remained attached to the bear long enough to bring it over, or have a replica of it somewhere. He took off to the doctor's quarters, holding his small legs still so he wouldn’t fall, all while Julian draped himself over Sisko, looking around and hugging his head. Never, in a million years, ben would have suspected that his confidant, loud and obnoxious doctor had been such a sweet child once. Yet, he couldn't complain.

Once they arrived at the quarters, he overruled Julian's lock and walked inside, and the moment he did the boy squealed and slammed his legs against Sisko's chest.

"KUKALAKA!" he yelped, wiggling to get out of Ben's shoulder, and he was quick to put the boy down. He ran towards some shelves, and indeed there it was, a small teddy bear, all roughed up from time. Ben reached out for it, taking it and handing it to Julian, who giggled and hugged the toy so hard he could pop. "You found him!"

"I believe we did" Ben said, thanking adult Bashir for keeping the toy. "Now, Jules, lets go back?"

"Yes" the boy said, all excited again, holding his hand and the toy firmly. Ben smiled at him and guided him out of the room, walking back to his quarters. One problem solved, five more to go.


	14. Chapter 14

Once they were back, Sisko left Julian back in the room with the other boys, before heading back to O'Brien's quarters. Inside, he found the man watching the girls, or rather, staring at them, while the girls stared right back. Ben couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows in confusion, before something happened and Kira gasped, jumping up on the couch.

"We won! We won!" she cried out, grinning from ear to ear before Ben approached the group, Miles letting out a tired sigh while Jadzia smiled proudly to herself.

"What is happening here?" Ben asked, politely, and Kira turned to him.

"Miles taught us an Earth game! The one where you stare at each other until someone blinks? And we won!" she said, sitting down again when Ben sat next to the chief, giving the man a side glance. Miles shrugged, but he was smiling.

"They are good."

"I'm glad you are all having fun, but I'm going to have to steal the chief for a moment, if you don't mind" he said, and the girls shook their head. Then, Miles nodded to the bedroom, and they both made an understanding face before rushing off into the other room, taking their padds with them.

Once they got inside the bedroom, Kira laid down on the bed and Jadzia sat next to her, already reaching for her padd. Kira then grabbed it and put it away, the spotty girl making a frown.

"Hey!"

"Stop reading for a second!" Kira complained, sitting up and looking at Jadzia. "I don't know about you but I'm tired of this. Aren't you?"

"Tired of what?" Jadzia asked, making the bajoran sigh and rub her face. After a moment doing so, she looked back at her friend.

"Jadzia, what are we doing here? Why are we alone with other three boys and two adults? Why are we all acting as if nothing was happening? Where are we? What is this place? Don't you have questions? Like where are your parents? Or something else?" she asked, and the trill girl looked at her and then down at her own little hands, opening and closing them nervously.

"They are treating us well... I don't know, I thought this was some kind of test or something" she said, looking back at Kira, who narrowed her eyes.

"Test for what?"

"I wanna be a joined Trill when I grow up. I thought this was some kind of test" she tried to explain, but Kira just stared at her, even more confused. "To be a joined Trill I have to go through a series of tests and exams... it's very hard."

"I'm not doing a test for anything. In fact all I want is to go home, to Bajor, and help my friends. All I have is a destroyed planet and guns to help us kill cardassians! I don't want nor I need a test. And now I am having to live next to a cardassian!" she said, loudly, crossing her arms. "I'm tired of this. I don't want to be here anymore! And I want the adults to explain to us what is happening!"

"Maybe they don't know either" Jadzia said, softly. "Maybe they are trying to find out why we are all here. You don't know."

"All I know is that adults don't trust kids. And they will never tell us what they know unless we press them" she said, holding Jadzia's hand. "You have to help me find out what we are doing here. I don't trust the ear boy nor the cardassian. And the crying baby is just too much. The only one I can trust is you!"

Jadzia looked at Kira, at her burning brown eyes and sure nose, and gave her a decisive nod.

"I will help you. Although I don't know what we are doing here either" she said, and Kira nodded, smiling at her.

"I know. But we will find out together. Once Miles and the commander leave, we will get out and look around the station. I'm sure you and I together will be able to figure out why we are here."

"Alright" Jadzia smiled and offered her hand in a handshake, and Kira held it, shaking her hand firmly.

"We are partners!"

At first, Garak was quite pleased of having a new plan, a new objective in mind to keep himself entertained with while he pretended to be enjoying the company of the other beings around him. However, his patient was growing thin with his roommates, as Sisko had called.

Hours had gone by since the commander last showed up to deliver the little human boy, who seemed more than attached to his little stuffed animal. In fact, since he had come back, all the little boy had done was watch him, suck his thumb and hug the toy tightly in his arms, which didn't make Garak any happier. His eyes were huge and shiny, and they were inquisitive, and Garak then realized how effective staring at someone could be in an interrogation, because he was about to yell his life at the boy.

And, of course, the Ferengi didn't help. No, now he was playing inside the bedroom with that weird liquid Sisko didn't get his hands out of, until the ferengi boy stole it. He didn't care about it the slightest, until he saw the thing move that was. But now, he was intrigued. Intrigued enough to try and find out what it was.

Eventually Sisko returned, claiming it was time for dinner, and gathered up the boys while serving them some food. They each got their worlds' dishes, and Garak ate it in silence, watching the Ferengi stick his head inside his bowl of grubs, while the little human boy clumsily ate his soup while trying to hold the bear against himself. Sisko didn't pay them any attention, too focused on something else to care about their table manners.

Garak wouldn't care either, after all, he would be leaving to Cardassia soon. He didn’t need those idiots.

Once dinner was over, Sisko removed their plates and told them to go to sleep. It was clearly he would be off all night solving whatever issue he had found, which gave Garak the perfect opportunity to sneak out and get acquainted with the station. He changed into the robe he wore to sleep, laid down on the smaller bed, and allowed himself to rest for a moment while Benjamin made sure Quark and Julian were in bed. Once they were settled, the human man walked out of the room, and it became silent.

It was clear that no one was going to sleep.

So, Garak waited patiently, until he was sure Sisko was gone, and sat up. Quark did the same, almost as quickly, while Julian jumped right after them.

"You can't sleep either?" he asked, and gladly they were in the dark so Garak could freely roll his eyes. Quark chuckled at the boy, making his way out of the bed.

"I'm not going to sleep" he said, getting out of the bedroom and being followed by Garak, who didn't respond to the human's questions. The little boy squealed and ran after them, even though they didn't call. "What are you doing?"

"I don't wanna be alone" Julian whimpered, holding his bear tightly, and Quark huffed and rolled his eyes while Garak ignored him completely and headed to the door. For some reason, the boy seemed to trust him, because he followed him instead of following the ferengi. "W-wait!"

Garak did not. He walked in the same speed he would have without a small human following him, and if Julian wanted to come along, that was his problem.

He wouldn't look back for a second.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated!!!


End file.
